To ascend, I had no choice but to create games

Normally, just getting close to this place would cause one to feel an indescribable sense of nausea, as if something were alerting him, warning him not to approach.

Today, that disgusting sensation is still present, but strangely, it has slowly weakened, allowing him to climb without too much difficulty.

As he climbed up along the twisted black tower, Squad Leader could still hear the conversational voices from within the tower, even through its outer walls.

These voices were unlike those of ordinary people, sounding like sticky tentacles caressing each other, with mucus and suction cups rubbing against the tendrils, making one’s skin crawl just by listening.

Peering through the windows of the tower, Squad Leader saw two temple keepers in black cloaks facing each other, with numerous tentacles emerging from beneath their cloaks and intertwining.

The folks from the Demon Lord Temple are indeed monsters!

As he continued to climb, he encountered more and more horrors.

This place was essentially a massive experimental site where countless ordinary people were gathered and infused with disease to be experimented on.

The experiment subjects on the lower levels retained some human-like appearance, but the higher he went, the more terrifying and ghastly they became.

In a hidden room, he saw what he did not wish to see.

The leather armor and waist tags of his own subordinates were carelessly piled up there, some stained with blood, suggesting that they had likely met with a grim fate.

Although he had anticipated this outcome, Squad Leader still felt dizzy and disoriented.

After the shock, a pain clenched his chest, and an endless rage burned within him, leaving him gasping for breath!

City Lord, how dare you!

We revered you as the City Lord because you were meritorious to the civilians, you treated us personal soldiers well!

But now, you have sent the people here to become experimental subjects, and you have callously discarded your personal soldiers who loved you like a father. You deceived us with your eloquent words—was it all for the sake of these monsters?

Footsteps approached; a temple keeper who had business there pushed open the door and saw Squad Leader who had climbed in from outside.

He made an abnormal sound and was about to turn around and call others when a short blade pierced through his neck from behind.

Ripping open the opponent’s cloak, Squad Leader found that the temple keeper beneath was a detestable monster with a face full of tentacles, even the vocal cords in their neck were filled with tentacles, making it so they could only emit strange noises.

Forcefully severing the monster’s head, Squad Leader tossed the head aside and locked the door to prevent being discovered, then jumped outside and continued climbing.

He checked room after room until finally, in one of them, he found familiar faces.

They were his own brothers.

They were chained tightly to the walls, rows of fist-sized bugs were placed on one side, and two temple keepers were murmuring to each other.

The bugs were enveloped by a miasma of illness; they were clearly out of the ordinary.

Although Squad Leader did not know what the temple keepers planned to do with these bugs, he knew he could not let them succeed.

With the short blade in his mouth, Squad Leader silently waited until the room had only two people left, then he abruptly made his move.

Leaping in from the window, he did not wait for one of the temple keepers to react and swiftly ended him with a slash.

The other temple keeper trembled all over, terrified by the murderous intent on Squad Leader’s face; just as he began to beg for mercy, Squad Leader’s blade came sweeping through and pierced his chest, then he twisted it sideways, putting an end to this man.

To prevent these monsters from coming back to life, he beheaded the dead as well, then he noticed that his blade had become jagged.

Tossing the damaged short blade aside, he searched the temple keepers’ bodies, found the keys, unlocked the chains, and took down his brothers one by one.

These brothers had been tortured beyond recognition, but fortunately, they still clung to life.

Looking outside, then back at his brothers, Squad Leader clenched his teeth, about to carry his brothers down one by one, when he saw a purple glow flashing by, and the spell of healing was cast upon these personal soldiers, restoring a healthier glow to their complexions.

A few of the personal soldiers who were not seriously injured could even open their eyes, and upon recognizing Squad Leader, immediately grabbed his arm and silently wept.

Squad Leader also wanted to cry, but he knew this was not the time for tears; he could only cover their mouths with his hand, then turned to look at the person behind him.

He was a healer, and not just any healer, but the one who had captured himself, Xiemen Waidao, and Mukuai 1234..

Looking at the other party, Squad Leader had a thousand words in his heart, but they all converged into one question, “How did you get here?”

“We came with you. We were just hiding in your pocket.”

After speaking, Xiemen Waidao directly demonstrated the Divine Skills he had acquired from accumulating merits, which allowed him to become as large as a normal person one moment, and as small as a green bean the next.

Once he finished transforming, Xiemen Waidao, unable to resist the urge, took a screenshot of Squad Leader’s shocked expression and then said to Mukuai 1234 beside him, “This guy’s reaction is just too funny, I really love this game.”

Mukuai 1234 looked at Xiemen Waidao speechlessly, then deducted ten points of health from him.

To think that she had once found this guy somewhat handsome, she really must have been sick at the time.

After healing every personal soldier, Xiemen Waidao looked at the bugs set aside and fell into thought.

These bugs were teeming with disease, with the ones the size of a thumb carrying several times the disease of an ordinary person, which didn’t seem like a result of natural evolution.

Combining this with what had happened to the personal soldiers, Xiemen Waidao had a bold thought.

The Demon Lord Temple was using these creatures to create Disease Beasts, and the original model for these beasts were human beings.

Thinking of what the Demon Lord Temple had done to the bandits before, Xiemen Waidao felt that the Temple must have been plotting for a long time.

They were definitively the ultimate boss in this game, their deeds so vile that there was no chance of whitewashing them.

Such pure evildoers would definitely feel great to beat up.

As the personal soldiers regained their strength, Xiemen Waidao opened his Backpack System, laid out the armors and weapons he was carrying, and then said to the Squad Leader, “Hurry up, get armed… why are you looking at me?”

Pointing to the weapons and armor on the ground, Squad Leader widened his eyes in astonishment and asked incredulously, “How did you take these out?” “The Backpack System! Even huge items only take up one slot when you put them in. It’s really convenient to use. But this feature is exclusive to us players, you NPCs can only envy it, you won’t get it!”

In that moment, Squad Leader finally understood how Mukuai 1234 felt.

Even though he didn’t understand half of it, the half he did understand was enough to make him want to hit someone.

However, since the other party was his savior, and the savior of his brothers, he still bowed in thanks and then asked, “What do we do next? Run away?”

But after a moment of thought, Xiemen Waidao stared at the Heavenly Vision, that is, the mini-map for a while, then pointed upwards firmly and said, “No, we go up.”

“Why?” Squad Leader asked seriously.

“Well… I am a healer after all, and some things can’t be said too openly. But look, the City Lord’s combat forces are all outside, and there’s hardly any protection for the temple keepers and the City Lord in here. Up there, there are many people suffering from illness who need our help. Of course, if some can’t be saved, we need to give them a swift end so they can depart comfortably. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Squad Leader was not stupid.

Despite not fully grasping why Xiemen Waidao had to be so vague, he understood his intentions.

It meant to fight their way up.

The temple keepers here could no longer be saved; most of them had lost their humanity and even what little beastly instincts they had.

For the sake of the nearby common folk, these tyrannical beings must be destroyed. That’s what Xiemen Waidao was getting at.

Nodding slightly, Squad Leader looked at his brothers and said, “Brothers, do you know who’s torturing you, who wants to infest you with bugs and turn us into monsters?”

The personal soldiers who had recovered nodded.

“The City Lord has been kind to us, but we have paid back his kindness with our continuous service. Now, if someone wants our lives, what should we do?”

“Kill!”

“Good, let’s go!”

Leading his brothers, Squad Leader protected Xiemen Waidao at his back as they charged toward the tower’s summit.